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Was suddenly logged out of Dropbox and Google accounts simultaneously on 3 or 4 devices

Michael M.198

I have two iPhones (12 & 16) and two MacBooks (M2 and M4). I was using Dropbox on everything but the iPhone 16. I was using Google apps or logins on all 4 devices. I was logged in through a VPN on one of the MacBooks.

A short time ago I noticed that all my Google tabs in a particular browser were logged out. Then I noticed there was an email from Google saying they had detected suspicious activity. I also noticed DropBox was logged out from both MacBooks.

The activity around the time of the notice was, according to my Google account information, activity by the iOS account manager.

This was very mysterious. For one thing, I don't use Google to log into Dropbox.

Later I realized I might have used Google to log in to Dropbox on the iPhone 12.

I researched what Google considers "suspicious activity." One thing is logging into an account simultaneously from two widely separated areas. The only thought I had was that one of my phones was on the mobile network and the other one was on the WiFi.

I use 2FA on Google and Dropbox and I don't travel with my devices, so I don't think it was actually something insecure.

If anyone has ideas what could have caused this, I'm interested.

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Jay

Hi @Michael M.198, thanks for the info.

Could you check your Dropbox account security page to check for any recent sessions on your browser, and see if they match up with when you last logged into the account.

Are you certain that you didn't use the Google Sign In option when logging in to your Dropbox account on the website, instead of signing in with your email and password?

All comments

Hannah

Hey @Michael M.198, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.

This sounds more like a Google issue rather than a Dropbox one; have you investigated this with Google?

Is it possible that using a VPN had something to do with this?

And are you back into your Dropbox account after this?

Let me know!

Michael M.198

I'm curious why Dropbox logged out on both my MacBooks even though I hadn't used Google to log in. Does Dropbox do anything to detect anomalous security events and automatically log me out? It actually created some problems. On my new M4 MacBook (Tahoe), which was struggling to sync since I set it up, where I've been working for two days gradually syncing folders, it's back to the original problem (stuck on "Syncing…" with no file count). So this will probably be a Dropbox support issue anyway if it doesn't sort itself out.

Hannah

Thanks for getting back to me, Michael!

Dropbox doesn't really have the ability to trigger something like this.

Just to make sure we're on the same page, did this happen on just your browser or on locally installed apps as well? Because you did mention the Dropbox desktop app; was that automatically logged out too?

Michael M.198

I am running the Dropbox desktop app on both of my Apple Silicon laptops.

In the case of my M2, it shut down Dropbox. The Dropbox folder disappeared from the Finder left column, the green dots/clouds disappeared from the finder. When I went to restart Dropbox, it asked me to log in, as if for the first time (it even asked what folders I want to sync).

In the case of my M4, it didn't stop Dropbox, but logged me out and brought me to the first time login page automatically.

In both cases, the Dropbox status started at "Indexing", then in the case of the M2 which is running Sequoia, it went to "up to date" within about 20 minutes. In the case of my M4, which is running Tahoe and never fully synced (I got it just a couple days ago) it went to "indexing," then to "syncing.. (with no file count)"

Now, 12 hours later, the M4 says "up to date."

Note that this all happened at the same time Google logged me out of all the Google websites and sent a security message. So I'm trying to figure out how Dropbox relates to Google. I definitely don't sign into Dropbox with Google, not that I'm aware of. Then later it occurred to me that Dropbox was on my iPhone 12, and I probably signed in with Google there. So maybe it triggered a "safety forced logout" on Dropbox somehow. But you're saying Dropbox doesn't do that.

Jay

Hi @Michael M.198, thanks for the info.

Could you check your Dropbox account security page to check for any recent sessions on your browser, and see if they match up with when you last logged into the account.

Are you certain that you didn't use the Google Sign In option when logging in to your Dropbox account on the website, instead of signing in with your email and password?

Michael M.198

Hi thanks for your response. So, recent sessions on the security page definitely match. As they get older I get less sure, and Dropbox isn't sometimes saying "macOS" or "Macbook Pro" or "iPhone" and I now have two iPhones and two MacBooks so I'm not sure which is which, but in general it looks fine.

I'm 90% sure I didn't log in with Google because I remember typing my Dropbox password and remember typing it.

At this point, I don't think this is critical because both of my MacBooks are now synced with all green circles (available offline, as I want) and there have been no signs of any further security incidents.

If you want to close this, that's fine. I'll click "yes" on "did this answer the question".

Megan

Hey there, @Michael M.198!

Thanks for the heads up!

If you need anything else, please let me know and I will be more than happy to help every step of the way.